I am astounded that here in the UK people are struggling to simply feed themselves, we are supposed to be a rich nation, and yet more and more of us are having to rely on food banks.
Without going into a frantic tirade on politics, I’ll just state that this is NOT fair, it shouldn’t be this way!
Further more, we are getting more obese as a nation, and less nourished with greater risk of malnutrition. It costs money to eat healthily, and yet the stuff on special offers in shops are the highly processed stuff.
When we have little money our first and foremost thought is to make sure those we love have food in their tummies, that they aren’t hungry.
With this in mind, I decided I would start to do some simple recipes using cheaper ingredients. Ideally I want to create recipes around the £1.50 per person mark, which would include at least 2 portions of fruit and veg, and would be low in calories. These recipes are adult portions, so adjustments can be made for child size portions.
I shall be using Tesco and sometimes Sainsbury for my costings, so I assume more saving can be made by shopping at shops such as Lidl and Aldi.
I aim to be loading up a new recipe every couple of weeks, and will list them in this blog post. Each recipe blog post will also have a link to this page.
I would love to be of some help to anyone who needs it, so if you or anyone you know could do with this information, please do share it anyway you can. I don’t care if it’s printed out, this blog is not about the amount of likes it receives, it’s just about helping.
Fruit & Veg portions Aprox: 2.5 per person (as per UK NHS guidelines)
Serves 4 adults
Hi All, and thank you for clicking on this post.
I have decided to create some posts dedicated to cheap and nutritional foods. This is my first post on this subject and I have eased myself in with a dish I am used to doing, albeit this time with less costly produce, and with much healthier meat!
In conjunction to this page, I also have a more explanatory post which will have links to every recipe I create with cheap and nutritional foods in mind. Click here for that post.
I have brought packs of three onions and peppers, and divided the cost so for instance, 3 onions cost 50p, I only used 2 so for the costing of this meal the onions cost 33p. I have done the same for all ingredients used, including herbs, stock cubes etc.
So without further ado, let’s get on with some info!
This is my second attempt at this recipe, last weekend I found my first attempt to not be as tasty as I would expect. There was no real depth of flavour, so a bit of tweaking and swapping brought me to this recipe.
My local supermarket is Tesco, so that is where I went to compare prices and nutrition on lots of things. There are Lidl and Aldi relatively close, and they are known to be even more cost effective than Tesco and the like.
I’ve found fresh produce in Tesco from Redmere Farm, this was cheaper than other goods in the store, and nutritionally still the same. Interestingly, you’ll see some of the mushrooms are joined together, and that one of the onions is oddly shaped (there were two onions growing side by side like twins!) I guess that’s why this produce is cheaper – it doesn’t look as pretty – but as it’s being chopped up, I really don’t care.
The dried herbs I used are Tesco own and is a 30g cylindrical tub of mixed herbs – I found this on the top shelf so not in eye line – but it contains exactly the same herbs as in the more expensive brands – so absolutely no difference other than cost.
The stock cubes are Tesco own reduced salt, and as they were also a lot cheaper than my usual brand (Oxo) I was willing to give them a go. I like them, I will continue to use them.
As for the garlic, I broke my own rules with this, I hate peeling garlic, and the sticky hands that come with it, so I did spend more money on the large cloved garlic.
Oddly the wholewheat spaghetti was the cheapest of all the pastas.
There were only two of us eating today, me and my daughter, so I cooked 100g of spaghetti, but the mince mix is for four. Once cooked I’ll leave half the mix to go cold then freeze it for another day. I don’t own a microwave, so I’ll just leave it in the fridge the night before I want to use it.
Ingredients
500g turkey mince 2% fat
500g Growers Harvest Tomato Passata
2 brown onions (Redmere Farm)
1 pepper (Redmere Farm)
2 tbsp Tesco mixed dried herbs
20 squirts of 1cal spray
1 Tesco reduced salt chicken stock cube
approx 10g garlic puree
0.5 bulb of garlic
200g Tesco wholewheat spaghetti – I promise no one will know it’s wholewheat – I’ve tricked kids loads of times!
Recipe
Add about 7 squirts of 1cal to frying pan and put on medium heat
chop onions to your liking (I like chunky) and add to frying pan
Chop mushrooms and add to frying pan
peel garlic cloves, crush using flat of a knife, or chop up, add to frying pan
chop pepper and add to frying pan
add 1 tbsp of dried herbs to frying pan
cover and leave on medium heat, stirring occasionally
Add a about 7 squirts of 1cal to large saucepan and put on medium heat
add mince to saucepan, stirring up and breaking up clumps every minute or so
Add water to another saucepan for spaghetti and bring to boil
When turkey mince cooked through, crumble 1 stock cube in and 1 tbsp of mixed herbs, mix together,
add a big squirt of garlic puree (I use about a tenth of a tube but that might be too garlicky for you)
Tip vegetables into pan with turkey mince
Add passata
stir, cover and switch to low heat, stirring every minute or so
add 50g of spaghetti per person to pan with water and cook as per instruction
when spaghetti is cooked, drain and dish up into bowls
ladle mince mix on top of spaghetti
serve
enjoy
Red or Green peppers would have looked nicer
50g of spaghetti per person and then a good ladle and half of mince
Only two eating, enough mince mix made for four. remaining to be frozen
Both my daughter and I really enjoyed our dinner, and it just goes to show we can eat well on a budget. I wish I’d had this info many years ago when I was as skint as anything!
If you feel this post might be of any help to anyone, please, please share it, print it out, anything.
Hi All, as you know, I’m forever amazed by many wonderful bloggers here on WordPress. Here is yet another person whose posts I adore – many of her healthy recipes make me drool just thinking about them! This particular recipe is jam packed with 5 portions of fruit and veg, and has just 181 calories in it. Even better…. if you have a sweet tooth, this well and truly hits the spot!
Today i have created a soup which is perfect for celebrating halloween/ Samhain, it is perfect for those cold nights, to eat outside while enjoying the celebrations or snuggled up on the sofa, I will give you the recipe and also the health benefits of the soup, it is vegan friendly and naturally sweet, it […]
Confession – Crisps somehow found there way into my mouth last night and this morning.
I’ve gained 2lb this week, combination of the dreaded monthly meltdown, lack of exercise, and not as healthy food week as it should have been. Following is my printout.
Not unexpected, sorry I didn’t make healthier food choices.
My daughter is with me for the whole weekend, so after I weighed in we went to Harvester for a bite. I specifically choose to go there as this is where I go most Fridays, and the chicken salad tastes delish! I noticed a strange thing, when I had my starter salad bowl, I had the same ingredients as usual, but there was more of it. This was a subconscious reflection of how much more I can eat during my period. I’ve never noticed this before, however now I know I need to be more mindful during that time. We live and learn!
Nearly forgot the photo 😀
Good so far, right? I had NO will power today, there was treacle sponge and custard! It was SOOOOO GOOD!
Oh no, I can resist!
OH NO! the mouth is opening involuntarily!
Caught in the act!
Not caring!
That’s sooo good!
And I wonder why I’ve put 2lb on this week 😀
Anyway, then we visited with my friend, who is very proud as she has lost 5lb this week. I’m pleased for her, but she’s doing it by eating Ryvitas, doesn’t sound very sustainable to me.
Amy and I then went shopping for the some supplies, some of which was for ingredients to make a delicious and sweet soup! This is courtesy of Shrinking Gina (thank you, it was as lovely as I expected :)), click here for her website. I’m also going to reblog the recipe post!
A bit more about this recipe, the soup serves 2, has 181 calories and has a whopping 5 portions of fruit and veg!
Amy and I are going to watch a couple of films now, and have a couple of long drinks 🙂
Today has been another tablet laden day. Only normal pain killets today though, better than the codeine. Hopefully I should be feeling back to normal in a couple of days.
I feel quite tired today, I’ve no idea if that’s the hormones or lack of good nutrition.
Last night Paul and I shared a small pack of palma violets, feels like a pointless confession given today.
I know this is a short term phase, I’m hurting, worn out, knackered. I also know I could have resisted naughties, could have added veggies to dinner, swapped teas for water.
I also know I will have no problem getting back to my healthy changes. Even though I’m feeling generally down and disappointed in myself, I have full confidence this is just a glitch.
I am missing my happier outlook, damn monthlies 😔
I have a great weekend planned though! Paul is working away from home, Katie (Amy’s fiancee) is working late shifts over the weekend, so Amy and I are gonna have some mum and daughter time!
We are going to collect then roast some chestnuts (something she and I used to do when she was little), we’re going to go to a local hill with a flask of tea tomorrow night, wrapped up warm, and watch fireworks (again a throw back to when my family was just the two of us), were going to make a soup (recipe from blogger shrinking gina – will reblog over weekend), were going to visit my friend, were going to have a go at tweaked recipe for my Cheap & Nutritional meals, we’ll watch a film or two with a glass or two. Amy’s sleeping over despite the fact there’s only 4 doors between our houses 🤣
I also need to weigh myself (gulp), prepare salads, nuts, fruits and eggs, and I’ve fallen behind on my cool facts blog posts.
So on that happier note, I’ll wish you a good evening and a great weekend 🤗
As I write to you today, I’m sitting here feeling sorry for myself and in quite a bit of discomfort.
Today has had to be the big gun tablets, regularly. And that started from 5.30 this morning!
Fun things today, lots of cute kids trying to look scary… So cute!!! And they’ve all been good, dipping into the bag in turns, only taking a couple of goodies each.
Work has slowed down somewhat, and both my workmates won the fancy dress competition!
I love the effort they put in!
Anyway, onto my day.
Food – 28g natural nuts, 2 hardboiled eggs, only 1 portion of fruit, salad.
There was a bat biscuit!
Dinner – salmon, oven cooked spuds, peas.
Supper – Greek yoghurt with seeds and honey.
Fluid – 200ml milk, 4 cups of tea, 1 glass of water, half can Pepsi max.
Exercise – I’ll get back on that as soon as I can.
Thank you very much for sticking with me throughout these last three weeks, I have appreciated you taking the time to look and comment.
The Experiment
To use the product on one eye only, and as directed. Post pictures for honest feedback.
My Thoughts
I feel there is a little less bagginess and darkness for the treated eye, but not as much as I was hoping for.
Your Thoughts
11 comments on left eye improvement, 5 comments on right eye improvement, 4 comments on both eye improvement, 3 comments on no improvement
Product& Cost
The produce is No7 Laboratories Dark Circle Corrector and it costs £28. Here’s their product info:
After 7 years in the making, we are introducing our NEW clinically proven No7 LABORATORIES DARK CIRCLE Corrector, designed to deliver fast, visible results to fight tired looking eyes. No7 Laboratories has formulated its first clinically proven treatment for dark circles, reducing their appearance by up to 30%, delivering both instant visible results and longer-term benefits over time.
Immediately skin appears visibly depuffed, revitalised and brightened for more wide awake looking eyes.
Clinically proven to reduce the appearance of dark circles in 4 weeks†
Our active complex including Hyaluronic Acid to help visibly plump skin, soothing Algae Extract and our lightening technology to target the three causes of dark circles so skin appears: 1. Firmed 2. Calmed 3. Less Hyperpigmented
The clever adaptive light diffusing particles and colour correcting pigments in the light/medium sheer neutraliser help correct blue and red undertones, while the medium/dark sheer neutraliser helps correct red and brown undertones.
This neutralising effect and the cooling massaging applicator instantly visibly improve dark circle appearance on all skin tones from light to dark. In just 1 week dark circles look visibly reduced. Women agreed that this dark circle corrector gave them the best results they had seen from a skincare product and better results than they thought possible from skincare alone. *79% of women reported a reduction in in the appearance of dark circles within 1 week. 210 survey responses
Ease of Use
I did find this easy to use, and had no side effects, although I will say in the mornings i would dab it in a little, just to make sure I didn’t have a warpaint effect 😀 Here’s the official how to use info:
For best results: Apply every morning and evening as the last step in your skincare regime. Turn pack to ON position and gently squeeze the tube to prime then glide the cooling massaging tip under your eyes. Remember to return pack to OFF position. Suitable for Sensitive Skin
Will I continue to use?
I shall finish of the tube, treating the other eye now as well, but I doubt I will buy again.
Additional
Giving credit where credit is due, I contacted Boots about a week ago, advised that I wasn’t noticing much difference, and results from you guys was mixed, and wondered if they could give me any more advise, maybe I was applying it incorrectly. They responded to my email within 12 hours and apologised. They advised this was very unusual for the product but they would certainly bring my comments up in the next product review meeting. Boots also advised I could take the product back to the store for a refund, however I shan’t do this as there is some improvement.
So, there ends my trial, again, many thanks for continuing to look and comment 🙂
The season of light is almost over, the season of dark is almost upon us.
Welcome Samhain.
Across Britain, Ireland and Northern France the pre-Christian Celts Samhain marked the first day of the dark season.
Cattle was brought back from summer pasture land to shelter or slaughter. Harvest was gathered before the the fairies could blast plants with their breath, causing blight.
This time of year (now formalised as 31st October) marked the boundary between the world of the dead and the world of the living. And on this night the dead revisit the living. Big bonfires were lit in every village, to welcome loved ones no longer living and to ward off any evil spirits that had also risen.
Druids would relight each family’s hearth with embers from the sacred fire, offering protection and warmth for the forth coming dark season.
As with many pre-existing belief systems, Christianity came and merged those existing beliefs into the Christian religion. One Christian festival “All Hallows Day” or “All Saints Day” was a day to remember those who died for what they believed in. The date was officially changed in the 8th century to the 1st November, and so the night of Samhain became known as “All-Hallows-Even”, then “Hallow-Eve”, then “Hallowe’en”
This was a time for telling ghost stories, carving faces into swedes and turnips and lighting from the inside with candles, and of course apple-bobbing.
Later additions to this ancient Celtic traditions include fancy dress, trick-or-treaters and pumpkin carving.
My work mates!
So on this most potently magical night of the year, be prepared for the little ghosties and ghoulies knocking on your door, show them the bucket with your apples and warmish water, and see if they’re brave enough to pop their hands in your scary bag of treats.
And when those little ghosties and ghoulies are tucked up in their nice warm beds, be warned, the witching hour draws near!
Trying to lose! 